Random Links to Get You Through Your Day (If You’re Not at the Die Hard Marathon)

Is anyone else starting to get the feeling the Justice League movie is freaking doomed? The starts and stops have been going on since the 80s, then the writers strike, and now? When it should have the most momentum possible, and at the same time, the most opportune time to get something going, we hear the script might be getting thrown out? I mean, have you seen the shat people have been putting on screen lately, and a movie that’s guaranteed to make $400 gazillion dollars is getting scrapped? Yeesh. On the bright side, maybe Warner Bros. has learned its lesson. Instead of just chucking through another crappy Green Lantern, Batman and Robin or even Superman Returns, it has decided to take its time with Justice League and protect the future of the franchise. If Avengers had sucked the way Green Lantern did, there’s no way we’d all be wetting our pants waiting for Avengers 2 — or for that matter, Iron Man 3, Thor 2 or Captain America 2. Warners knows that just as much as Marvel knows that. So it’s not the bad idea to protect the franchise from a possible franchise killer, stopping it before it even starts. Wait a minute, this is what we’re so worried about?

Maybe it’s been a couple years since Friday Night Lights has been on the air. But I’m the guy who sat through two hours of the mind-numbing torture of Battleship last year on the lone promise that it was the reunion of Riggins and Landry. I’m the guy who keeps a running count on how many FNL stars show up on Parenthood (pretty sure we’re at four now). I’m the guy who can’t believe we didn’t get Osama earlier with Coach in charge over there, the guy who committed himself to getting through at least one episode of Nashville just so he could hear Tammi Taylor say, “Hey, y’all,” one more time. I ran screaming as soon as she did, but whatever. So yes, I’m interested in the careers of those involved with the show, and I’m glad other people are too. (Vulture forgot at least one, FYI: Derek Phillips, who played Billy Riggins on FNL, was the fourth member of the FNL family to show up on Parenthood as Crosby’s best man.) More than any other show I can remember, me and every other person who watched that show feel like we have some kind of weird connection to the actors and everyone involved with it. We watch Parenthood for no other reason than it’s FNL showrunner Jason Katim’s post-FNL effort. We watch (500) Days of Summer the whole way through only because we know we get the payoff of Minka Kelly for 30 seconds at the end. WE SAT THROUGH BATTLESHIP, FOR CRISSAKES!!! We feel like we were all in the foxhole with those actors and writers, fighting to keep one of three or four best shows of the last decade on the air as long as we could. We did everything we could, and people like Katims, Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton rewarded us every week for our loyalty. It’s not like we’re stalking them or anything. At least I’m not. Well, I’m not stalking anyone other than Minka Kelly. And maybe Taylor Kitsch. But that’s all, I swear. Wait, is that all? OK, yeah, that’s all.

no movie.

Hey, did someone say something about an under-appreciated show that no one watched??? Yeah? Then this seems like a good time to mention the Party Down cast reunion in San Francisco last weekend. I was one of the ones who go on the Party Down bandwagon too late to help save it, I caught it on Netflix when it was two years off the air. Hey, gimme a break, I didn’t have Starz! But if you were one of the 16,000 people that watched the series finale, then you’ll probably be interested to know the cast has no idea about the rumored movie. You know what that means? It’s never happening. That cast has taken every opportunity over the last couple years to say, “The script is being written, it’s being shopped around, someone is interested,” blah blah blah. So to just to just come out now and say that they have no idea means that thing is as dead as disco. Fun to dream though.

Then there are the show you always hope will find their audience and be successful, and somehow, they do. That’s what TNT’s Southland is. It spent a year on NBC, was renewed for a second season then screwed canceled before it ever got on the air for that second season, got miraculously picked up by TNT, and now it’s in its fifth season and doing what apparently is acceptably well for TNT. I lost this show when it started going against Justified on Tuesday nights in the winter, but with its Wednesday time slot going against so-so The Americans and and being able to watch Workaholics at just about any other time, I may be able to get back in. You’re welcome, Mike Rubinkam, a devoted fan of the show.

umm, who are you people?

Over here the fifth season of (the real) Being Human hasn’t started airing on BBC America yet, but across the pond, it’s currently airing on the actual BBC. Just not for long. This fifth season of the show will be the last, as BBC has canceled it. I loved, loved, loved this show for the first two seasons, but fell distinctly out of love with it in the third season, which corresponds with the same time Comcast took BBC America off OnDemand and DVR space didn’t allow for it to be recorded. My wife and I got the third season on DVD right after it aired, in July 2011, with the intention of blowing through it while she was in the hospital having our second daughter and/or while she was on maternity leave. But every time we tried, we fell asleep. Both of us. It was pretty sad. We turned our attention to catching up on Breaking Bad, and let’s just say we never fell asleep for one of those. So it was pretty weird for me to see the new cast with the announcement that the show was gonzo. I knew they had a new cast and all, but it was still jarring.

best new show on tv.

Bad news for those vampires, but good news for the vampires over here, as Vampire Diaries was one of the three shows recently renewed for the 2013-14 season by the CW. Supernatural is another, and most deserving, Arrow is the other. Arrow is the only new show of the current season that’s horned its way into my weekly rotation — although The Following is damn close, if it’s not already there. I can already see I’m going to be dropping The Americans, and I can’t think of one other new show this year that’s appealing to me in any way. With Arrow firmly in there, something had to get squeezed out, and so far, it’s Vampire Diaries. I made it through about early December, perked my ears when I realized Damon and Elena were finally sleeping together, but quickly got bored as frigg again. I’m not kidding — I just yawned typing that sentence, I must have been thinking about the show too much. Maybe someday I’ll catch up, but do I really even want to? Why do I have the feeling I can watch, say, four episodes spaced out through the season and not pick everything right up? Plus, it will be an interesting first 15 minutes of viewing because I’ll be all surprised when I find out those little nuggets of, “Cool, Damon and Elena are sleeping together,” or, “Hey, Elena doesn’t completely look like she’s 14 anymore” or “Under what circumstances could Bonnie actually be interesting?” It tails off after that.

Has there ever been a show so reviled and unwatched that gets such publicity other than The Killing? There’s a new story about that craptastic show every day. This one is somewhat legit, that the show has booked Peter Sarsgaard for its third season. But still, every day? Mind you, I have no evidence of this. But I feel like every time I open up one of my favorite websites, I’m greeted with a new disclosure about The Killing. The same show no one watched last year, the same show people went out of their way to rip on after its first season finale. Is it really drawing that many page views just by tagging “the killing amc” on the site? By who? Usually a show is reviled but highly watched (2.5 Men) or critically praised but ignored by the public (Community). But when does it happen that it’s ignored by both critics and audiences and yet it still gets this much publicity? Go away, Killing, go away!

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Mike Sadowski

Because TV won't watch itself. Mike Sadowski is a reporter/blogger at the Pocono Record ('05-present). Email him anytime at Read Full